Memory and Mystery
by Wombaat
Summary: A story prompt idea that blew out so I put it up here. Up for anyone to continue with. Harry's an Auror doing bodyguard work and his charge is murdered in front of him. The investigation reveals other mysteries over and above who the criminal is. HHR. I will not be continuing this myself, if you take it up, link your story in the comments. Not beta'd at all.


OK so this is a prompt I dreamt up (literally) for the Harmony + Co facebook group.

The muggles were in an uproar. Their media was going crazy over the latest in a series of killings that had been occurring across Europe over the previous six months, of businessmen and public figures, and it'd finally reached the shores of Britain. No motive was given and the methods used varied greatly from simple gunshots to elaborate poisons or conditions that simply belied belief in otherwise healthy people.

Justin Finch-Fletchley, Earl of Warwick had been assassinated in an elevator while with his wife and children and under protection from a bodyguard. None of the witnesses reported anything untoward except for a polite older gentleman who, despite being the one to call the lift, graciously stood back and allowed the larger party the use of the elevator in private. Nobody else had been harmed, however the Earl had not made it to the third floor before seizures struck him down and he was dead by the fifth.

All the witnesses had been interviewed by MI-5 and all reported the same thing. They'd entered the elevator and proceeded to go to the 30th floor penthouse. The Earl had not touched any surfaces or made contact with anyone outside their own party. There was a slight power flicker at the beginning of the ride but nothing untoward. Shortly after the elevator began ascending the Earl fiddled with his collar and then began to fit. They immediately lowered him to the floor and braced his head so he wouldn't injure himself. Calls were made to 999 and the lift was stopped at the next available floor (the fifth). By the time the doors had opened the Earl's heart had stopped and he had ceased to breathe. Bleeding was seen from his eyes and ears and CPR was begun. Paramedics arrived in 6 minutes and he was pronounced dead after another 15 on the way to the hospital. Cause of death was found to be his brain boiling within his skull. During the autopsy a small needle mark was discovered in the back of his neck and an unknown substance was discovered breaking down rapidly in his blood.

After the interviews and the obligatory reminders to remain available for further interviews if needed, one of the bodyguards headed for greater London and a dingy red phone box. Hitting 62442, and hanging up the receiver the man descended quickly beneath the street. He emerged into a grand marble sheathed chamber lined with fireplaces and headed for a line of people at a single desk about hallway down.

He waited a couple of moments for his turn to be processed. Reaching the desk he presented his wand to the wizard seated there. "Harry Potter to see the minister."

Ignoring the stuttering wizard and the looks of disbelief from the crowd, Harry collected his wand and headed for the grilled elevator. Approaching the secretary outside the minister's office he announced, "Harry Potter to see Minister Kingsley."

Harry was immediately ushered into the minister's office and after greeting the sat in one of the comfortable armchairs in the small sitting area off to the side of the desk.

Kingsley began, "What's this all about Harry, what'd you discover?"

Harry held up a hand forestalling further questions, "you might want to get Croaker and Madame Bones up here first. We'll need their input."

"Oh, I see." The minster quickly scribbled up two notes and tapped them with his wand. The notes folded down into paper aeroplanes and whisked off into the hallways of the ministry. "Tea? While we wait. Or is this more of a brandy type discussion?" Asked Kingsley holding up a bottle from a drawer in his desk.

"Tea please but I wouldn't put the bottle away just yet," was the reply.

A quick call out the door had a tea service brought in and a cup poured for the two men.

A short wait a bit of small talk later as the two joked about Harry's inability to use any of the perks or being the Man-Who-Won and a lord of the Wizengamot, such as the private entrance to the ministry, the door opened and Madame Bones, Head of the DMLE limped into the room. The old witch was still heavily scarred from her encounter with Voldemort during the blood wars, when he tried to assassinate her at her ancestral manor. Offered and accepting a cup of tea, she asked "are we waiting on anyone else?"

"Just us," said a cloaked figure entering the office, followed closely by a slightly smaller person also clad in the unspeakables grey cloak. "In light of the duties of Lord Potter and the furore in the muggle newspapers I thought it of benefit if I brought along my compatriot Seshat."

"Fine, Harry if you'd please tell us what happened?" asked Amelia.

Harry relayed the tale as it happened the previous day but also added, "I don't know why I didn't notice anything. I know that Justin didn't have any injuries before we went to the hotel and I can't remember seeing anyone around us except the family. Justin wasn't a slouch and as the head of the muggle relations committee he knew he was a target and kept his eyes open for anything untoward. The only incident of any note was the slight brown out in power after we got in the lift. I sent a sample of Justin's blood work to the DMLE shortly after it happened and hope that they've managed to identify the potion in his blood. The muggles are stumped."

It was Amelia's turn. "We received the bloodwork and were unable to identify more than a token trace that identified that it was indeed a potion in his blood over and above his normal prescribed potions. We sent it off to the department of mysteries to see if they could clarify what it was further."

Croaker took over, "I took the blood and passed it to Seshat here who has managed to identify traces of Pepper-up, a nutrient potion, a contraceptive draught, all of which had been in his medical records and one other potion. After a bit of work Seshat has managed to work out that Justin Finch-Fletchley was injected with a small amount of an obscure nerve potion that was designed to stimulate nerve growth in reattached limbs. It was phased out due to side effects such as hyperstimulation resulting in large amounts of heat about never clusters and unless followed with an associated potion can result in the nerves literally cooking themselves. It hasn't been used in 250 years."

"Ok so we now know what killed him. Now we need to know how?" stated Amelia. "Harry, can we see your memory of the incident?"

Harry simply put his wand to his forehead in response and removed the wisp of memory to place into the pensive sitting on the corner of the ministers' desk. Together the 5 people in the officer entered the memory. 30 minutes later they popped out together.

"Well that was suitably horrifying" said Kingsley.

"Yes, but I was more interested in the flicker at during the power fluctuation just after you entered the lift," Seshat spoke up for the first time. "It was only slight but it almost appears if something has been cut and stitched. I'm not certain but it nearly looks like you've been obliviated. I'd like to enter your mind directly and see if I can glean anything further. If it's what I think it is, it's a quick and easy fix."

"No, no… Not even no, but Hell No!" replied Harry heatedly. "No offence miss, but there's only a couple of people that I trust enough for that and you aren't one of them."

Croaker interrupted "Lord Potter, no, Harry, Seshat is one of my leading experts in both potions and magical research including the mind arts. She has my complete confidence and trust."

Harry snarked, "Last time I spoke to an old man about someone having 'Their complete trust' regarding my mind, I went through 7 months of torture by a not so former death eater. So thanks, but no thanks!"

Croaker and Seshat stood and stepped off to the side. A privacy bubble sprang to life around them. Through the distortion of the ward the other three people in the office could see the much smaller unspeakable reply to something then throw her hands up in the air before poking her boss in the chest like she was making a point. Croaker seemed to shy back and cringe into himself in the face of the quite insistent figure in the grey cloak. The ward was removed with a wave of the younger unspeakables hand and Croaker retook his seat while Seshat paced a few steps away.

Croaker cleared his throat. "Umm. Well. Er, my young compatriot here has been quite, insistent, in her opinion that we need to examine your memory Lord Potter, and she is prepared to reveal her identity to the three of you if that will help."

"Not going to happen" interrupted Harry. "Like I said there's only one person that I'd trust inside my head and it's not you…"

Seshat turned and snapped. "Oh, shut up Harry."

The black haired Auror jerked his head around to the young woman. "Hermione?"

Seshat reached up and lowered the hood of her robes, revealing the familiar features of his best friend.

Harry was shocked. "I thought you worked in the Muggle relations department, but, you're an unspeakable?"

"So, does everyone else, but now you know" she replied, "Now then. I'll ask again. Can I look at your memory, hmm?"

Harry said nothing, simply took the hands of his best friend and pulled her down in front of him.

Hermione took his head in her hand and rested her forhead on his own while looking into his eyes, "Just relax. This won't take long."

The two seemed to freeze for several moments before a sigh and Hermione pulled back. "Yes, it's what I thought. Long ago a potion was developed to perform mass obliviations, it's remarkably hard to brew and was pretty quickly replaced once the charm was developed. This appears to be a modification of this potion. It is remarkably hard to detect if you don't know what you're looking at but relatively easy to counteract if you know the proper spell."

"And you know the spell?" Asked Kingsley.

Harry just laughed "You do know who you are talking to, don't you Kingsley? Hermione wouldn't have mentioned it if she didn't know it. Let's do it. I need to know what this guy did."

"Harry! Shush" Hermione blushed. "Just relax this shouldn't hurt."

"in memoriam revelare abscondita" She intoned and punctuated it with a short tap on both temples of the auror.

A deep muddy brown glow surrounded Harry's neck and head for a minute or so and his eyes glazed over as the memories were restored.

"OK. We seem to be dealing with a male, early 40's or 50's, maybe 5'10 or 5'11, thin build, long steel grey hair, very pale, no wand in evidence. Dressed in a store-bought suit. He was in the elevator when we entered. It appears that he may have been under a notice-me-not keyed to wizards and muggles. As the doors closed, he sprayed a mist into the air. All of us froze as we began to react. He took the cap off a large ring on his right hand and slapped the back of Justin's neck. After that he simply got off at the first floor and walked away. It appears that we may be dealing with a wizard or a high-level squib. Understands the muggle world and apart from the notice-me-not which could have come from a rune, I did not witness any active spell work, but there is definitely evidence there of magical interference."

Amelia conjured a glass vial "give me the revealed memory and we'll review it and pass it to the muggle authorities; they might be able to track him with CC tv cameras."

Harry did as ordered, and they all stood to go.

Harry grabbed Hermione as they were preparing to leave. "One last thing I saw when the memories were restored."

The young witch turned "Yes?"

"Hermione. Why am I remembering taking up my lordship and us getting married in our 5th year?"


End file.
